1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cooling apparatus for a vehicle electrical packaging unit that includes an inverter for driving a vehicle driving motor, a DC-DC converter for a vehicle control electric power source, an electrical power converter for driving electrical accessories, and other high voltage electrical devices, and in particular, relates to a cooling apparatus for a vehicle electrical packaging unit that cools a plurality of high voltage electrical devices by heat exchange with cooling air.
Priority is claimed on Japanese Patent Application No. 2005-194733, filed Jul. 4, 2005, the content of which is incorporated herein by reference.
2. Description of Related Art
In electrical automobiles and so-called hybrid vehicles, high voltage electrical devices, such as high voltage electrical devices include an inverter for a vehicle drive motor, a DC-DC converter for a vehicle control electric power source, and an inverter for driving electrical accessories, that generate heat are mounted in plurality. These types of high voltage electrical devices are disposed together along with batteries in an electrical packaging box as an integrated unit, and the heat of the high voltage electrical devices and the like that generate heat inside the electrical packaging box is cooled by air drawn into the electrical packaging box by a fan.
For example, when the electrical packaging box is disposed behind a back seat, as shown in FIG. 14, cooling air inside the passenger compartment is guided to a battery 103 and an electrical packaging unit 104 inside an electrical packaging box 102 through an intake duct 101 that opens in the rear parcel shelf, and then the cooling air is guided outside the electrical packaging box 102 through a discharge duct 106 connected to a suction fan 105 (refer, for example, to Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. 2003-79003).
In addition, a cooling apparatus for the electrical packaging unit described above has been developed and widely used in which, as shown in FIG. 15, a passage 110 for the cooling air is formed in a heat sink case 109 installed in contact with the high voltage electrical devices 107 and 108, and heat radiating fins 111 are integrally formed in the passage 110.
However, in this conventional cooling apparatus, the heat sink case 109 is integrally formed by die casting or the like, and thus there are disadvantages in that the fabrication for forming the passage 110 and the heat radiating fins 111 therein is difficult, and a space-saving and concentrated arrangement of the high voltage electrical devices 107 and 108 in the pre-molded heat sink case 109 is difficult.